Adsorptive cooling: a clean technology

As a consequence of the Kyoto Protocol and its predecessor, the Montreal Protocol, environmental considerations will play an important role in the choice of a refrigeration or heat pump system. Accordingly, sorption technology is expected to develop for cooling as well as for heat pump applications because it uses benign fluids. At the moment, liquid absorption technology is the leading technology in that field; however, adsorption offers advantages that cannot be achieved by liquid absorption technology. This article addresses the measures to reduce halocarbon emissions and the possibilities of adsorption technology. Not only are the direct emissions taken into account but also the indirect ones due to energy consumption. Several cases that show that adsorption cooling is very promising, from the global warming point of view, are considered in this article. They are: waste heat adsorption chilling, natural gas adsorption chilling, trigeneration and natural gas reversible heat pump. Adsorption air conditioning for automobiles is also discussed as a very challenging possibility for adsorption cooling.